Feeding a baby can be extremely messy. When using a traditional highchair for feeding, the person feeding the seated infant usually must handfeed the infant holding the jar of food in one hand, while spoon feeding the baby with the other hand. This handholding of the food jar is necessary since the infant has a tendency to reach across the tray width, and knock the objects within their reach. Knocked down jars of baby food can be extremely messy to clean up, as well as resulting in wasted unusable food spilled out from the jar. Additionally, the person feeding the infant must use both of their hands at all times during the feeding process.
Additionally, the feeding of infants also requires a baby bottle filled with milk, juice and the like, to be used. For similar reasons, the baby bottles cannot be temporary stored on the existing tray since the bottles are within easy reach of the infant and can be knocked down creating additional messes and wasted liquids. The problem comes into play when the person feeding the infant must temporarily place the bottle somewhere if they are going to start hand feeding the infant using a handheld food jar, bowl and handheld spoon.
Similar problems occur with other chairs having trays such as infant booster chairs, stroller type chairs, stationary and movable activity chairs, and the like.
To obviate the problems above, the person feeding the infant has had to temporarily place the bottle, food jar, and/or spoon oil floor surfaces, adjacent tables and/or countertops. However, this temporary solution creates other problems. In addition to taking up additional space, these surfaces need to be completely clean (bacteria and bug free) to store these objects, and generally require an extra cleanup after the jars, bottles, and spoons have been placed on these surfaces.
Various proposals have been made over the years but fail to solve the problems presented above. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 208,317 to Broder; U.S. Pat. No. 3,143,374 to Carboni; U.S. Pat. No. 3,475,052 to Kaposi; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,440 to Meslin et al. each describe attaching small plate trays to existing highchair trays. However, each of these references requires placing the small plate trays on top of the existing tray putting the small plate trays within easy reach of the infants, and not solving any of the problems presented above.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,711,872 to Lampke describes a telescoping arm with a clamp end for use with baby crib railings. However, Lampke""s clamp cannot be used to attach their device over and about the top raised lip edges and bottom of the tray edge on traditional highchair and stroller trays. Furthermore, the arm and clamp mechanism can be potentially harmful to the infant if left unattended.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,660,743 to Carroll; U.S. Pat. No. 1,937,994 to Taylor; and U.S. Pat. No.2,707,141 to Witter each describe tray attachment devices for attaching to the edges of tables. However, none of these patents has a clamp that allows the device to simultaneously wrap about the top raised lip edge and bottom edge on traditional highchairs and stroller trays. Using these devices would create unstable tray attachments. Furthermore, these devices would leave the food jars and bottles at the same height as that of the existing trays themselves. Thus, objects stored on these devices would still be within reach of seated infants.
Other patents of interest that also fail to overcome all the deficiencies to the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. Des. 303,454 to Morales et al.; U.S. Pat No. 3,338,628 to Evans; U.S. Pat No. 3,904,041 to Medgebow; U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,786 to Ulics; U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,638 to Marcus et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,796 to Roth; U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,046 to Rowles et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,755 to Morales; U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,607 to Fermaglish et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,175 to Frankel; U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,765 to Halle; U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,452 to Huynh; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,507 to Joseph.
The Morales ""454 and ""755 patents respectively describe a xe2x80x9cfood tray for use in vehiclesxe2x80x9d, title and xe2x80x9cutility tray for attachment to a wall, or a likexe2x80x9d, title, and are not for attaching to tray edges on high chairs and the like, and fail to overcome all the problems described above.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a detachable device for attaching to a tray edge on highchairs, booster chairs, and strollers for holding baby bottles, food, and the like, out of reach of a sitting child, in place of using the surfaces of adjacent tables and countertops.
The secondary objective of this invention is to provide a detachable device that can be easily attached and removed to all tray edges on existing highchairs, booster chairs and strollers.
The third objective of this invention is provide an attachment device for the trays on highchairs, booster chairs and strollers that reduces the spillage of foods/liquids during infant feeding.
The fourth objective of this invention is to provide an attachment device for the trays on highchairs and strollers that allows bottles and food jars to be cleanly and safely stored when attached to the tray and when stored off the tray in a refrigerator, and the like.
The fifth objective of this invention is to provide an attachment device for the trays on highchairs and strollers that can easily be cleaned within a dishwasher, and used within a microwave.
The sixth objective of this invention is to provide an attachment device for trays on highchairs and strollers that have an adjustable opening for securing different diameter bottles.
The seventh objective of this invention is to provide an attachment device for trays on highchairs and strollers that have a removable lid for covering food and liquid.
The eighth objective of this invention is to provide an attachment device for trays on highchairs and strollers that can be separately positioned to a tray surface by removable suction cup type fasteners.
A preferred embodiment of the detachable device includes a clamp having an upper portion for attaching about an upper raised ridge of a tray situated in front of a sitting child, a lower portion for abutting against a lower surface of the tray, and an exterior side having brackets for allowing a bottle holder subtray or a food subtray to be attached thereto. The tray can be part of an existing highchair, a stroller, a booster chair and an activity chair. The upper portion of the clamp can include a planar plate extending over the raised ridge of the tray and a downwardly protruding portion for contacting a surface of the tray inside the raised ridge. The lower portion of the clamp can further include either a screwable post fastener that can abut up against the lower surface of the tray, or a spring biased post fastener.
Another version of the clamp can include a curved flange having a generally C-cross-sectional shape with a channel opening in the flange for wrapping about the raised edge of the tray, a side wall having an upper end connected to the flange, the side wall being adjacent to an exterior surface of the raised edge of the tray, and an upwardly bending flange connected to a lower end of the sidewall, the upwardly bending flange having a portion which abuts against the lower surface of the tray, wherein the clamp means snaps into a lock position about the raised edge and the lower surface of the tray.
A removable shield can be inserted between the bottle/food holder subtrays and the clamps for blocking the sitting child from reaching the food and the liquid. The food subtray can include a substantially flat subtray having raised side edges, and a rear wall perpendicular to the subtray, the rear wall having an upper hook end for attaching to a receiving portion in the exterior wall of the clamp means, the rear wall having a lower end connected to the subtray, wherein the subtray is at a lower level than that of the tray. The bottle holder subtray can include a substantially flat subtray having openings for supporting a baby bottle therein, and a rear wall perpendicular to the subtray, the rear wall having an upper hook end for attaching to a receiving portion in the exterior wall of the clamp means, the rear wall having a lower end connected to the subtray, wherein the subtray is at a lower level than that of the tray. The bottle hold subtray can further include dual cylinders openings for supporting a baby bottle therein, and a real wall perpendicular to the dual cylinders, the rear wall having an upper hook end for attaching to a receiving portion in the exterior wall of the clamp means, the rear wall having a lower end connected to the dual cylinders, wherein the dual cylinders are at a lower level than the tray.
The invention can further use removable lids for covering food dish openings in the subtray, and removable ring type inserts for adjusting the diameter of openings being used to hold glasses, bottles and jars. Furthermore, the invention can use another attachment device such as suction cups which allow the subtrays to adhere on the surface of tables, countertops, and even to the main tray surface itself.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment which is illustrated schematically in the accompanying drawings.